Speakers and preachers---follow this instructive parable to keep your message alive and your audience alert! By knowing your destination before you leave (identifying the major premise you want to communicate), using your turn signals (transition ahead!), and employing five other practical points, you'll be on the road to success---and drive your message home! 176 pages, hardcover from Multnomah.
When You Talk, Are People Changed? Whether you speak from the pulpit, podium, or the front of a classroom, you don't need much more than blank stares and faraway looks to tell you you're not connecting. Take heart before your audience takes leave! You can convey your message in the powerful, life-changing way it deserves to be told. An insightful, entertaining parable that's an excellent guide for any speaker, Communicating for a Change takes a simple approach to delivering effectively. Join Pastor Ray as he discovers that the secrets to successful speaking are parallel to the lessons a trucker learns on the road. By knowing your destination before you leave (identifying the one basic premise of your message), using your blinkers (making transitions obvious), and implementing five other practical points, you'll drive your message home every time!
Average Rating: 5 out of 5 stars(5 out of 5 stars)
5 of 5 Reviews Showing:
5 out of 5 stars
Reviewed by Pastor Tom (Adamsville, OH), June 04, 2009
This book is a must read for any preacher, lay-speaker, or Bible teacher. It provides a dynamic look at speaking, the author asks the tough questions necessary to effectively communicate in ways that change lives. Dry communication theory has been applied in ways that make it fresh and easy to understand.
5 out of 5 stars
Reviewed by Dorothy Couch (Palmer, AK), January 15, 2008
This is an incredible take on how we should share God's message. It will revolutionize the way you think about speaking in any venue any where. What a challenge!
5 out of 5 stars
Reviewed by Kelly Keith Dunn (Kansas City), August 27, 2007
I feel compelled to warn fellow Christian Communicators. This book may make you angry. It just might inspire you to change the way you communicate the life-change message of hope.
I suppose whether you are angered or inspired depends upon what your goal is. Is your goal to teach the Bible to people? Or, is it your goal to see people changed as they apply the life-changing message of the Bible?
If you are comfortable with people telling you "Nice message..." as they leave; If you really don't want to disturb those who sit under your preaching/teaching; If you are satisfied with merely reading your three points to your people and expect that they'll "get it" because it is a sermon then you might want to take a pass on this book.
However, If you are like me and have a burning desire to see people CHANGED having heard the crucial message you want to give them then you will want to read this book (several times) with a legal pad and pen!
I can hear my seminary preaching professor even now in my mind, "This is against all convention!" That would be a correct assessment to be sure.
I'll confess the title caught my interest so I picked up the book. Once I started reading this book I literally could NOT put it down. Please know that I have read many books on the art and science of preparing, and delivering sermons. I have had several preaching classes in seminary, but NONE of them challenged me to make ONE point! Andy Stanley did... give him a fair hearing. I know this: I will never communicate Biblical truth the same way ever again! As Stanley correctly states, there is so much that is at stake!
4.5 out of 5 stars
Reviewed by Sam ONeal (St. Charles, IL), December 08, 2006
"Communicating for a Change" was recently named the Book of the Year for preaching skills by PreachingToday.com.
Stanley's 7 imperatives are very helpful in streamlining your teaching in order to produce life change in your listeners, whether you are a pastor, small group leader, or Sunday school teacher.
The extended parable is also a very helpful, and very unique, way to present this information.
Readers who enjoy this book should check out "The Return of a Mighty Church," by Jack Eggar. This is a fictional story of an everyman pastor's attempts to turn around a dying church. Within the story, Eggar weaves in 5 principles that can help any church experiencing stagnant or declining growth. It's a great read, and very helpful.
5 out of 5 stars
Reviewed by Nathan Hyde (Ocean Pines, MD), August 08, 2006
This is by far the best book I've ever read about preaching! Once again the team from North Point has given us a resource that is so practical that it seems like we should already know the seven imperatives it teaches, because they make so much sense. Reading this book made me excited about preparing for my next message, so I can exercise the things I learned. No preacher or teacher or any other communicator should go without this book! It will revolutionize your speaking and multiply your effectiveness.
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